How to consciously communicate with your food— with Evan Rilling, former chef of Will Smith
“Our ancestors were eating generally higher quality food. They had less options but they were eating locally.”
Born in the USA, Evan Rilling is a a health-conscious chef and a food shaman. His mission is to help clients to connect more to themselves by creating a healthier relationship with the food they consume daily. He has almost 20 years of chef experience, has worked as the personal chef to movie actor, Will Smith, designed menus for retreat centers around the world, and worked for major health brands.
“You can learn to understand your own body in order to find out the kind of food that works best for you.”
We all are familiar with those moments in life, in which we don’t allow ourselves to eat healthy food without time pressure but rather with joy and pleasure — there is this telephone call in the middle of our lunch, the children that ask for morning chocolate or a dinner far after 8pm devoured in a rush. Our brain knows about proper meals. It knows “we are what we consume”, but our limiting beliefs cause us to believe differently.
All over the world, depending from a certain income level of course, people have different perceptions on what’s “healthy”for them — there are various nutrition plans we might feel tempted to explore like being vegan, eating veggie or raw, etc. At the end, they are all competing on what’s the “best practice” to follow.
But there is no general health nutrition plan that would be applicable for each of us in the same way. We all have different bodies, different ingredients within us, different ways to move, in being active, sitting and sleeping. Evan’s recommendation is to recognize that our bodies are built differently and needs to be treated differently. What is healthy for you might not be healthy for another person, what food works best for you, might not work for another one. As per Evan, you “just” have to be more knowledgable on what your body likes, digest the best and what feels the best after you have eaten. This means for him to observe: do you feel tired after a dish, activated or energized? Self-responsibility is his key for a proper health.
“Just because certain food is said to be good for you, doesn’t necessarily mean that it is good for you and your health system.”
Listening to our conversation will help you understand:
✨that it is your responsibility to stay healthy. No one else will really take care of your health except yourself
✨the importance of consciousness when eating because your body is your temple and you are what you are consuming — this is true for the news, television shows, and when it comes to our nutrition
✨how to build a relationship with tomatoes, almonds, salat, meat, and all other ingredients and food you are having daily in front of you
✨understanding that each of us has a different body and an individual internal health system
✨why buying local products is a great thing to do
✨the importance of mental health when it comes to an overall health state of living
✨why breathing before eating is a behavior you might want to make your habit
✨how a perfect vision of the food industry might look like
✨why the garden of Eden might act as a great role model for the food industry
✨how to inspire the next generation - our children - to truly love food, appreciating knowing local fresh products and eat with awareness
Some questions for you as you might want to reflect about today’s talk:
What does “being healthy” mean for you personally?
What steps do you take each day to maintain a great health level?
How important do you view mental health as being part of an overall health state?
